


December at 666 Darkmore

by Schrodingers_Rufus



Category: Re-Animator (1985)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Cats, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Gratuitous Holiday Coziness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 11:54:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2731529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schrodingers_Rufus/pseuds/Schrodingers_Rufus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The idea of an “everyone lives and everything turns out better than expected” AU kept rattling around in my head until I wrote it, so here’s a cozy story about the Re-Animator trio.</p>
            </blockquote>





	December at 666 Darkmore

_**November 27th** _

 

As Meg shifted beside him on the couch, Dan heard the slam of a door and the tap of shoes on the hardwood floor. He looked up from his textbook.

Herbert strode past them and into the kitchen, his nose still in a book of his own. With one hand, he took a glass from the cupboard and started to fill it from the sink.

"Hey."

Herbert fumbled with his glass. Tucking his thumb in between the pages and half-closing the book, he glared at Dan. "What is it," he snapped, more a statement than a question.

"You studying for, uh," Dan's resolve started to falter. "Prof. Russell's class?"

"Immunology?" He scoffed. "It's mostly a review, mostly a waste of _time_ , but yes. I thought I should refresh myself on some of the terminology."

Dan couldn't help but chuckle. Herbert was a character, that's for sure. "Why not sit here, with us?" Now it was Meg's turn to shoot him a look. "I'm going over the same stuff. We can, I dunno, quiz each other or share notes or something." Dan caught Meg's eye with a crooked grin and shrugged innocently.

Herbert stared straight forward for a moment, eyes dark and expression unreadable, before his mouth constricted into a thin-lipped smile. Dan winced. Picking up his glass of water, Herbert turned to the couple on the couch. "I believe I might take you up on that offer. The more the merrier; isn't that what they say?" Dan might have been paranoid, but that last part seemed to have been aimed directly at Meg.

She tensed next to him. Maybe not so paranoid.

 

_**December 2** _

 

"He's creepy, Dan! Admit it!"

"Not, well..."

"See!"

"No, wait, look. He's just...eccentric, alright? He's got no social skills--"

"Well, that's for sure."

"--But, listen. I think he means well."

Meg tried to knead away the swiftly-growing tension headache.

 

**_December 6_ **

 

Dan rapped sharply on the basement door. "Dinner's ready!"

"I'm busy!" Herbert's voice may have been muffled by the distance, but Dan could still hear the annoyance loud and clear.

"Well, too bad! I'm calling a house meeting!"

There was a distinct squelching noise, and then Herbert's voice sounded up the stairs. "Since when have we had house meetings?"

"Since today!" Dan leaned heavily against the door. "We've gotta talk about...house stuff."

Dan thought he heard a snort. "Then talk now."

"No!" The temptation to pound his head against the door was strong. "The dinner is kind of--It's kind of part of the meeting, you know?"

"I genuinely don't, Dan, I--"

" _I made pasta for three, Herbert._ " Dan's voice cracked with annoyance.

Silence.

"I suppose you've distracted me enough."

"Damn right I have." Dan finally rolled away from the door. Living with Herbert may have been easy, but actually _talking_ to him made up for it tenfold.

The door clicked open. "I hope you're proud of yourself." He slid through the doorway sideways, pushing the door closed before Dan could get a glimpse of what was inside.

"Damn right I am." With the palm of his hand against Herbert's back, Dan nudged him toward the kitchen. "When was the last time you ate?"

Herbert fixed him with that same unreadable smile. "I can't quite remember."

 

_**December 13** _

 

"Pasta two weeks in a row?" Herbert daintily scooped up another bow tie with his fork. "How can we be sure you're not just serving us leftovers?"

Meg took in a deep, slow breath. Why Dan had decided that they needed to see even more of the little creep was beside her. She believed in giving people chances, she really did, but...Herbert always seemed to be up to something. He was more than a strange bird, he was a genuinely threatening bird. (A brief image of a bespectacled cassowary flitted through her mind.) If he was running some sort of drug operation out of Dan's basement, Daddy'd toss him out of Miskatonic so fast his head would spin.

"Look, Herbert, run all the tests you want on my pasta--it's _not_ the same batch as last week!" Dan insisted.

"Miss Halsey." Herbert's eyes locked with hers, and Dan fell silent. Herbert cocked his head. (Meg had to banish the thought of a crow in a shirt and tie.) "What were you majoring in again?"

Meg tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. "I never told you."

A slight chuckle, and a thin-lipped smile. "Then, what are you majoring in, for the first time?"

"Biochemistry." Why did she tell him? It wasn't like it was some big secret, but she just went and _told_ him like he was just some, some regular guy.

Herbert's eyebrows crept upwards. "Really?" He sounded genuinely surprised. Interested even.

"Pharmacy," she choked out. Then, with more confidence, "I'm going on to a Pharm.D. program after I graduate." 

"Hm. Not what I expected."

_Asshole_ , she wanted to say. She swallowed a mouthful of pasta instead.

 

**_December 17_ **

 

As he cranked the can opener, Dan caught a flash of black and white out of the corner of his eye. "Wait, wait, Herbert!" He tried to set down the can and take a step forward, but Rufus put himself between Dan's foot and the floor. He meowed insistently. 

Herbert stopped in his tracks and swiveled to face Dan, back ramrod straight, a stack of notebooks cradled in one arm. "Yes?"

Dan nudged Rufus gently with his foot. He got a low meow in response. "I haven't been able to ask; what _are_ you keeping down there?"

Herbert peered over the rims of his glasses. "Down..?"

"Down in my _basement_ , Herbert."

" _Our_ basement, Dan." He seemed weirdly insistent. "But yes, that. I'm performing an independent study."

"On..?"

"The chemical processes that sustain human life." Herbert smiled like he was about to tell the punch line to some brilliant joke. "Nothing special."

Dan rolled his eyes, unable to keep himself from laughing. "Yeah, sure, nothing special. But what sort of actual _stuff_ do you have down there? Did the school loan you some equipment?"

"You could say that."

" _Herbert_ \--" If he was implying what it sounded like he was implying...

"Nothing too illicit, I swear."

"Herbert, if you're--" Dan suddenly lunged forward, snagging Rufus around his shaggy middle before he could make it to the counter. Rufus meowed in protest. With a groan, Dan deposited the cat back onto the linoleum and resumed opening the can. "Just promise me you're not making some sort of...street drugs down there, alright?"

"Nothing recreational, no."

"And no, well, dead bodies, right?" Dan saw Herbert stiffen. "Because, no offense, you've sometimes got a bit of an...Ed Gein thing going on." Dan inwardly kicked himself. Great, how was he going to soften that? "You know, given the quiet, and the, the--"

"No offense taken," Herbert replied, clipped. "Rest assured, I'm no murderer." His posture projected confidence, but Dan could hear something odd in his voice. Defensiveness, maybe. Now that Dan thought of it, Herbert wasn't meeting his eyes. He almost looked a bit sad.

"Now, if you don't mind, I believe your...cat is hungry. I have a few more readings to take down." He paused. "Goodbye."

And with that, he turned on his heel and strode through the basement door, locking it behind him.

"What do you think?" Dan asked, shoveling the wet cat food into a bowl. "Huh, Rufus?"

He set the bowl onto the floor.

Rufus, as to be expected, said nothing.

 

_**December 20** _

 

"Oh, _god_ ," Meg groaned, setting a forkful of pasta back onto the plate. "Him. He's been Daddy's friend since, since...oh, as long as I can remember."

"My condolences." Herbert chuckled. "Has he always been this...?"

"Creepy?"

"I was going to say insufferable, but that works as well." Herbert took another bite. "Oh, yes, Dan. I meant to ask."

"Hm?"

"How did your grades fare in the _illustrious_ Dr. Hill's class?"

"Oh, wait, lemme think." Dan took a moment to close his eyes, tapping his fingers against the edge of the table. "Uh, B minus."

" _B minus?_ " Herbert's eyes popped. "That _hack!_ "

"Should I ask?"

"A _D_." Herbert fumed. He dug his fork into a meatball with a little too much enthusiasm for either Dan or Meg's comfort. "He had the _gall_ \--a _D!_ "

"At least he didn't flunk you."

"He probably would have," The meatball was on its way to being a pile of ground meat. "except that he would have had to see me again."

 

_**December 24, 8:00 PM** _

 

Dan and Meg sat huddled on the couch, a blanket and Rufus covering their tangled legs. She nursed a hot chocolate while he tried to read a novel by the light of the tree. ("If you're having trouble, I could turn the light on--" "No, no, you'll ruin the ambiance!")

Herbert rounded the corner, textbook in hand. He stopped cold.

"I see you've...decorated."

"Yeah," Dan grinned widely. "Just got the lights up this afternoon."

Herbert stared. "I...hm. I should probably relocate."

"Nah, c'mon. Sit down." Dan gestured to Herbert's usual chair in the corner. "It's not like we're going to start singing carols at you. Unless..." He rolled his eyes to look at Meg.

" _Dan_ ," she scolded.

Herbert stood, still looking oddly lost. "I thought you were agnostic."

Dan's head rocked backwards, brows furrowed. "I am. Doesn't mean we can't have a secular Christmas."

"I...suppose. My grandfather was Jewish, and my, my parents didn't practice." He glanced over at the kitchen. "I should probably read in there. The lighting is--"

"Herbert, the semester's over," Dan laughed.

Meg jumped in. "You're _not_ prepping for next year."

"Not tonight," Dan finished. "I've got instant hot chocolate in the pantry, and there's cider in the fridge."

Herbert twisted the fingers of his free hand, visibly considering his options. "...Fine."

He reappeared ten minutes later balancing a large mug of cocoa in one hand and gripping a notebook and pencil in the other. Dan laughed and scolded him when he saw the latter two, but Herbert insisted he might have a moment of inspiration. Tugging the decorative throw off the back of the chair, he wrapped it around his own legs, tucking them both underneath him as he curled into his chair.

He looked up at the tree, seemingly transfixed, as Dan returned to his novel.

 

_**December 24, 11:35 PM** _

 

Dan nudged Meg gently with his elbow.

"Wha--"

" _Shh._ Look."

Herbert's head was propped up against his elbow, and his eyes were--for the first time Dan could remember--actually closed. His free arm clutched the notebook like a security blanket.

Most notable of all, however, was Rufus, who had at some point curled up on Herbert's lap. Dan could hear him purring from across the room.

Meg's expression softened. She leaned against Dan, eyes droopy with sleep, and pulled her half of the blanket up to her chin.

_Merry Christmas to all_ , Dan thought as he stretched, _and to all a good night._

 


End file.
